Responding to the news that train fares are to rise, Siôn Simon, Labour’s candidate for West Midlands Mayor, said: “For far too long, decisions about our transport system in Coventry have been made by politicians in London. Their interests are not ours.

“From next year, we can take back control of our transport system with the election of a West Midlands Mayor.

“It means we can do something about the road congestion and the ever-increasing costs to rail commuters – because we’ll have the powers and funding to decide for ourselves.”

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“Between 1995 and 2016 passengers have seen average fares increase by 23.5% and much more needs to be done by train operators and the Government to give them a truly affordable railway.”

Ms Etkind accused the Government of “dragging its feet” over the introduction of flexible season tickets with “fair discounts” for the eight million part-time workers across the UK.

“It is not right that part-time workers have to buy expensive one-off tickets, or season tickets which they then waste on the days they don’t work,” she said.

Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group which represents train operators and Network Rail, said: “We understand how passengers feel when fares go up, and we know that in some places they haven’t always got the service they pay for.

“Around 97p in every pound passengers pay goes back into running and improving services.

“Fares are influenced by government policy, either through government-regulated fares such as season tickets or as a result of the payments train companies make to government.

“This money helps government to support the biggest investment in our railway since Victorian times.”